In this evocative image, the Cuban artist Ana Mendieta drags her hands down a wet, blood-red canvas, a bit like Yves Klein’s Anthropometries in reverse. It is one of Mendieta’s many poignant explorations into “physical and material transformations through body-based works” (The Brooklyn Rail), and was precursor to her seminal 1979 silent film project, Untitled (Blood Sign #2/Body Tracks), which saw her leave bloody hand marks on a white gallery wall.
